


maybe you'll hear my voice from where you are

by bananabee



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, College AU, F/F, F/M, M/M, Music AU, also, giving ya'll some of that bumbleby angst, i guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 08:56:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14614647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bananabee/pseuds/bananabee
Summary: yang closes her eyes. she flashes back, and just like that, she relapses.(that bumbleby music au no one asked for)





	maybe you'll hear my voice from where you are

**Author's Note:**

> been working on this for a while but never got around finishing the first two chapters until earlier tonight. i hope you guys like this. comments are always appreciated. will try to update regularly *shoots finger guns*

**one**

 

_“Are you going to eat that?”_

_The black haired girl’s gaze snapped up from her sheet of sky blue construction paper. She had been in the process of drawing a cat, but she could feel the black crayon in her hand slowing as she stared at the girl who had spoken so suddenly. She had chubby cheeks, a wide smile, blonde hair in pigtails, and large lilac eyes locked on the girl’s other hand, the one not holding a crayon but the one that grasped a carton of animal shaped crackers instead._

_“Huh?” the black haired girl responded lamely. “You want my crackers?”_

_The other girl nodded._

_“Uh,” she stammered, dropping her crayon to hold the carton with both hands. She stared at the brightly colored box intently. Animal shaped crackers were her favorite snack, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to give them up to some girl she’d just met._

_Suddenly, her mom’s voice popped into her head, soft but scolding._

_“Sweetie, you need to learn how to share,” she had chided when she one day got a call from her teacher claiming that her daughter wouldn’t let any of her classmates touch her new storybooks._

_“You’re a big six year old now, and six year olds know that sharing is caring,” her mom’s lecture rang throughout her mind as she mustered up a small smile and looked back up at the girl._

_“Okay,” the black haired girl chirped, thrusting her hand out and offering her the carton. “Here you go.”_

_The other girl’s smile widened, and the girl with black hair felt her heart swell all of a sudden. Maybe this was what her mom had meant when she said sharing was caring._

_“Thank you!” the other girl gushed, taking the box from her._

_And without any hesitation, the other girl sat down next to her and ripped the carton open._

_“There aren’t any dragon ones so the elephant ones are my favorite,” she continued, popping said elephant past bubblegum pink lips. “What about you?”_

_She blinked, a little startled by the fact that the girl had chosen to sit next to her when there were so many other chairs in the room._

_She had already given her the crackers, what was she still talking to her for?_

_“The elephants are cute,” she agreed after a moment of silence. “But I like the cats,” she said seriously, as if the type of animal the cracker was affected the taste at all._

_The other girl nodded in a similarly serious manner, fishing a cat-shaped cracker out and pressing it onto her palm. Even though they were her crackers in the first place, she couldn’t help but feel a pit of warmth form in her gut at the sudden kind gesture._

_As the other girl continued to munch on crackers, she started talking about her other favorite things. From the rambling, she learned that the girl’s favorite type of flowers were sunflowers, and her favorite thing to do in her free time was sing and read stories to her sister._

_The girl continued to talk._

_“My sister’s name is Ruby, she’s still four,”_

_While the girl spoke, the black haired girl drew all of the things the girl mentioned earlier on a clean piece of construction paper, a yellow one; because she had said it was her favorite color._

_The black haired girl now completely abandoned her cat drawing and focused on doodling the things the other girl said she liked._

_“Is this for me?” the girl asked in disbelief when she timidly handed her the drawing._

_The paper was littered with dragons and elephants, and sunflowers, among other things, and there wasn’t a single inch that wasn’t covered with a crayon doodle._

_“Woah,” she said breathlessly, holding the drawing up to the light as if she were examining a piece of fine art. “And you don’t even know my name!”_

_The black haired girl blinked._

_“I’m Yang Xiao Long!” the other girl said happily. “What’s your name?”_

_The girl with ebony hair blinked again, “U-Um, I’m Blake Belladonna,”_

_“You have a pretty name,” Yang commented._

_A genuine compliment._

_Blake looked away, an adorable blush dusting her cheeks._

_Yang had a cheeky grin on her face._

_“Hey, Blake, do you like singing too?”she asked after a moment._

_“A-A little.”_

_“Do you want to sing with me for show and tell later?” Yang asked, her smile not faltering._

_Blake could feel the warmth in her gut grow bigger._

_She made a friend._

_“Okay.”_

_The two of them sat together during snack time an hour later, just after show and tell. Although Blake didn’t have anything to eat anymore, she decided that being able to sit next to her first friend, Yang, being able to watch her laugh and smile up close, was worth the rumbling stomach._

_And they were best friends ever since._

_***_

It was one hot afternoon after her 1 o’clock class.

 

That class ran earlier than usual so Yang had time to spare before World Literature, her next class.

 

Since Yang was taking a degree in Architecture, her subjects were intro classes mostly involving Math. That was why she made sure she had at least one Literature elective, to keep her sane amid the death pool of numbers and measurements.

 

The professor was a big fan of underrated works of literature, so the works they tackled during lectures were the ones that Yang still hasn’t read about or haven’t heard of yet. She used to read stories for Ruby when they were kids and the love for literature stuck. She couldn’t wait until they finished discussing their readings so she could give Ruby a long ass list of what to read next.

 

That is if her sister got around finishing her already growing pile of books to read.

 

Yang chuckled at the thought.

 

She walked out of the lecture room after grabbing her bag and out to the hall.

 

Unlike the students who hated it when it was unbearably sunny outside the corridors of Beacon University, Yang didn’t mind the heat that much. It reminded her of the rare times they spent at home instead of playing with their friends during the summers back in Patch, when her dad made lemonade for her and Ruby.

 

Just one week after she started college, Yang found herself finding more things that reminded her of home. She let out a sigh, realizing she was feeling a lot more homesick than she thought she would be. Yang took her phone out of her pocket and dialed Ruby’s number. Her sister picked up after the first ring.

 

“ _Yang!!! I miss you!!!”_

Yang heard video game music in the background and shook her head and let out a little laugh.

 “Geez, don’t be too loud, Ruby.” Yang replied. “I miss you too. And dad, of course.”

 

She adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder and continued walking around the corridor.

 

Ruby laughed on the other line.

 

“ _You know you miss having a loud sister around.”_

Yang chuckled.

 

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to call again after you guys left, things got hectic in no time.”

 

_“You texted us the day after so it’s okay. Don’t make it sound like we’re a clingy family like dad does, you two are dorks. How’s Beacon?”_

“I am offended,” Yang scoffed, pretending to be scandalized.

 

Ruby giggled, making Yang grin at the sound.

 

“Beacon’s been great so far. Classes are demanding but I like working on them. How areb things back there in Patch?

 

“ _Nothing much happened since you left. Penny asked if you and I could sing at her cousin’s birthday, by the way. It’s during your break I think. You don’t have to say yes though. She knows you stopped after what happened with B–”_

Yang slowed and stopped outside a closed classroom.

 

“Ruby,” she said as she closed her eyes and sighed, trying to bury the unwanted memories she had of the person she stopped her sister from mentioning.

_“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”_

“It’s okay, dummy. Just don’t bring _her_ up next time. I’d like to forget, thank you very much.”

 

“ _Yes ma’am.”_

Yang leaned on a ledge and changed the subject.

 

“What’s dad been up to?”

 

Ruby laughed loudly.

 

_“Oh my god. He won this funny looking hat with a sunflower on top when he won best garden for the neighborhood fair. He actually started wearing it when he takes Zwei out for a walk.”_

Yang could picture it right now: Tai wearing a bright yellow hat with a sunflower, a huge smile plastered on his face. She laughed.

 

“God, that’s so like him. Makes me miss dad more now though.”

 

“ _I’ll send you a picture later, I can’t believe I forgot. He misses you a lot too. He told me the sunflower on top reminded him of you,”_

Yang smiled.

 

Before she could reply, Yang noticed several students walk by. She recognized a few of them including Pyrrha and Jaune, the couple who lived in the room across the hall from her in one of the apartments just outside their school. Pyrrha smiled at her and gave her a small wave before continuing forward. Yang waved back.

 

“Tell him I miss him a lot too, okay? I – ” she stopped when she heard guitar strums and someone singing softly from inside the classroom.

 

_I’m going away for a while_

_But I’ll be back, don’t try to follow me_

_‘Cause I’ll return as soon as possible_

_See I’m trying to find my place_

_But it might not be here where I feel safe_

_We all learn to make mistakes_

The voice sounded faint so Yang decided to move closer to the door to be able to hear more clearly. As she listened in she could recognize the sadness as the person went on.

_And run_

_From them, from them_

_With no direction_

_We’ll run from them, from them_

_With no conviction_

She blinked. The voice was –

 

“ _Yang? You still there?”_

“Ruby, I-I have class now.”

 

“ _Are you sure..? Is everything okay?”_

_Cause I’m one of those ghosts_

_Traveling endlessly_

“Y-yeah I’ll call again soon. I love you.

_“I love you too, sis.”_

Yang ended the call.

 

_Impossible._

_After all these years?_

_No._

_It couldn’t be._

_But –_

Her hands were shaking as she tried to put her phone back safely in her jean pocket.

 

_Don’t need no roads_

_In fact they follow me_

 

The voice, she was sure of it, it was –

 

She was panicking, her heart raging against her chest. Due to her shaking hands, her phone slipped from her grasp and landed on the floor with a loud thud.

 

“Shit,” Yang cursed as she quickly bent down to pick her phone up.

 

The singing and the guitar sounds stopped immediately. She heard the person rush towards the door.

 

_Fuck._

 

She grabbed her bag in a desperate attempt to leave before the person opened the door.

 

 _She had to leave. She wouldn’t know what to do if_ –

 

The door swung open and Yang cursed every existing god there was.

 

Right in front of her was the person she has not seen in more than two years, the person she wanted so much to forget.

 

Right in front of her, staring at Yang in disbelief, was Blake Belladonna.

 


End file.
